kylos

Highs and Lows of the WWE right now.

I have been a WWE fan for many years now, and in my eyes it has gone downhill over the last few years, they continue to do things right when it suits them, but they repeatedly fail to live up to many fans expectations. I will dive right in there and start off with what they are doing right.

What they are doing right.

-For some time, the WWE failed to listen to their fan base, and would not push certain wrestlers who we wanted to see, however in the last year we have seen new names being pushed to the forefront. These include the WWE Champion CM Punk who garnered main stream attention after taking a page out of Steve Austin's book and cutting an epic promo that shook the wrestling world.
We have seen the rise of Zack Ryder, he became a serious self promoter, and it seems the WWE like this now, and instead of keeping him away from TV, they are building him up more and more every week.
This also includes the likes of Daniel Bryan, who is one of the best in the world between those ropes, he can carry just about anyone to a good match.

-For a long time, the IC and US titles were highly ignored, they were rarely showcased and no one cared who held those titles, but now we have Cody Rhodes and Dolph Ziggler, and it seems that although they are both heels, they are rising in popularity and they are putting everything into their performances, the WWE are being wise to let these guys hold onto their belts and bring some prestige back. They don't defend the titles enough but at least both of them are being used and put into the same spotlight as WWE/WHC title contenders. Ziggler often steals the show when it comes to putting on match of the night.

-Making Mark Henry a believable Heel Champion, wrestling has always been about big guys like him, and the way they pushed him was well thought out, many people hate on him and says he cannot wrestle, but then they fail to realize that big guys like him have never been masters of technical wrestling, it would be strange to see a 400 pound man mat wrestling and pulling off amazing counter combinations, when he has so much strength on his side.

-The reinventing of Kane was a must and they delivered on it, the timing being wrong is debatable as he came back on the same night as others did, but they have really made him look like a monster again, and he may be taken more seriously like he was in the attitude era.
Some do not like the new mask, but I think it looks great, it looks leathery, almost like he is wearing skin on top of his own face, which makes him look more creepy then ever, what I don't understand though is how they are getting away with that when the show is PG, it could be viewed as borderline, but that's a whole different discussion.

-Bringing The Rock back gave the WWE life again, many can argue that The Rock ain't a good wrestler, they can argue that he is never there(which is a bad point but I will come to that), and that challenging Cena to a match one year in advance was wrong, but no one can argue that him coming back got people talking about wrestling, and ratings shoot up whenever he is there.

What they are doing wrong

-Promoting the company as Entertainment, and not focusing on the wrestling, there are only so many Hornswoggle segments, Cole/Lawler/JR feuds and celebrity guest hosts that any real wrestling fan can withstand, they attempt to be funny and entertaining but usually just make wrestling look like a joke and make wrestling a dirty word that no one wants to associate with.

-PG shows, in the golden era of wrestling it was PG, but they focused on building feuds and wrestling was the focal points of the shows, they either need to cut the entertainment plugging, or they need to bring back some attitude and make the product edgy again, it is difficult for any adult to take it seriously anymore, it feels like the show should be on Cartoon Network or Nickelodeon sometimes because that's who they seem to target more then anyone. But guess who buys the kid's merchandise? The adults, and if the adults don't like the show they won't feel like spending money.

They often contradict themselves when it comes to PG. They allow The Rock to say Monkey Ass and Lady Parts, they allow Kane to come out in scary masks, Aksana flirts heavily with Theodore Long(although we can never really hear her) while terms like "Ass", and "Holy Shit" are being censored, it makes no sense to me.

-They have let the Divas Division become an absolute joke, letting go of wrestlers like Mickie James and Gail Kim, pushing the likes of Kelly Kelly and trying to convince us that she is the best thing since sliced bread is like slapping every wrestling fan in the face.
I feel sorry for the division, after they laid the Women's title to rest it has never been the same, there are only three "Wrestlers" left, and that is Beth Phoenix, Natalya and Kharma, and they have been misused and disrespected.
When Kharma comes back, do not expect her to have any real matches unless she faces Beth or Natalya.

-The Tag Team division is non existent, they failed to deliver on their promise of reviving the division, they made Air Boom, but continue to keep The Usos away from tag team title shots, isn't that what they are supposed to be there for? And this leads me to the next point.

-Misused talents include : Brodus Clay, Tyson Kidd, Trent Barreta, Tyler Reks, The Usos, Mason Ryan, Christian, Curt Hawkins, Drew Mcintyre, Ezekial Jackson, Primo, Jack Swagger, Jinder Mahal, Johnny Curtis, JTG, Justin Gabriel, Heath Slater, Michael McGillicutty, Ted Dibiase, Yoshi Tatsu, Alex Riley and all the divas Division.
Some of those names I would have fired ages ago, but there is a lot of potential in some of those names, but you never see them and I don't get why the WWE keeps them if they ain't going to use them?
Having guys like Christian win the world title to take it off him 2 days later is also disrespectful to one of their hardest workers they have, and they do not see his full potential either.

-Stale wrestlers include: John Cena, Randy Orton, Big Show and Santino Marella.
Cena is stale because he has done the same thing since 2005 and this is why people boo him, he is very popular but he could be even more so if they let him change things up, this goes to Randy Orton too, who definitely does not work well as a face.
Big Show is a much better heel then a face, he has little drawing power and is getting on a bit, and as for Santino, he is like Doink the Clown, who can take him and the Cobra seriously? He has much potential to be a great wrestler but they continue to use him as a joke.

-Bringing in Sin Cara and having him adapt to a WWE style, it was bound to cause problems, he is a luchador "Wrestler" which involves lots of spots that most superstars are not ready for.

-The current obsession with Twitter, I understand why they would be interested to know what is trending, so they know who the fans are talking about, but the frequency in which they tell us is far too much, we do not want to hear Michael Cole saying "I am trending on Twitter!" every other match on Raw, we do not want to know.
If we really cared that much we would be on Twitter and checking out the trends ourselves. And speaking of Michael Cole...

-Bad Commentary: Michael Cole should be a manager, and be taken off of commentary, it really makes the product hard to bear when you have Cole trying to be a Vince McMahon version 2.0 and failing miserably at it. He constantly messes up on commentary and is usually bullying those who he sits with, which goes against the WWE's anti bullying policy.
Not only that but it seems Jerry Lawler has lost the excitement he once had for commentary and he only perks up when Jim Ross is sat with him, and Booker T, although I think he is great, and tries his best to call the matches, he messes up quite a lot and makes comments that make no sense whatsoever.
It is cringing to listen to commentary sometimes, it is supposed to add to the shows, not take away from it.

-Too many secondary/development shows: I don't understand why they have Superstars, NXT and FCW, it is way too much time being spent on wrestler's who will never make it, and who really cares for them? I never watch them because I know WWE don't put much effort into making them special, every company needs a development territory, but WWE seems to mold the wrestlers into machines, rather then allow them to be themselves, so by the time they come to the WWE, they have become watered down and paranoid about getting anything wrong.

-Lack of competition all around, making classic events like King of the Ring a joke, pushing wrestlers into the main event too quickly (Miz and Del Rio) and promoting TLC, Money in the Bank, Hell in a Cell and Elimination Chamber PPVs when blood is not allowed? A lot of things that do not make sense.

-Promising the fans they will do something, then it does not happen, happened so many times in the last couple of years I never expect anything from them until they actually do happen.

And that is all from me, please do not see this as a rant, I tried my best to find good and bad points, and happened to find a lot more bad points. If you would be interested in reading a blog from me stating how I would improve the WWE product, let me know and I will give it a shot. Peace!

Comments

The only think I think you got wrong is The Miz being promoted too early. He was definitely needed as a foil to John Cena and The Rock. He was the only character at the time with the mic skills to go toe to toe with those two superstars. His in ring skill is really good, and brought out the best in Cena. He was very deserving of the title. If anything, he isn't being used properly by the WWE. He needs to remain in the title scene. We'll see if he gets more title shots after TLC.

you say too much time is spent on Superstars, NXT and FCW -- well most of the misused talent you speak of are on Superstars, showcasing their skills to a lesser audience. I agree that NXT is a waste of time, but FCW??? This is where they develop their stars into future main-eventers!! We may not care now but some of them will be big one day.
Also, your list of misused talent is too big, not everyone can be a main-eventer and I suppose some of them could open the show instead of the ridiculous JR/Cole segs that no-one gives a shit about. But they can't use everyone right.
As for Mason Ryan, he's misused by the fact that he's on television

not only do they need to work on wrestling they really need a lot of work on the entertainment side things more for a company called world wrestling entertainment the only part they got right was world

I think you got a lot of stuff wrong mate. FCW, Superstars and NXT are where the young, misused talent come to wrestle, and put on matches than are often more entertaining that the ones you see on the main shows.

They should move the misused talent to FCW to train them so that they learn how to wrestle and cut a promo. You need both to be taken seriously nowadays e.g. they pushed Zeke without him having any mic skills and he sucked. He needs to go to FCW to hone up on his skills while hes not being used on Smackdown.